


Michael Corner and The Really Helpful Bird's Head

by EdwardAlport



Series: Michael Corner and The Parallel Sequence of Stories [10]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-02
Updated: 2020-09-02
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:11:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26250175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EdwardAlport/pseuds/EdwardAlport
Summary: After The Battle of Hogwarts. Voldemort is dead but everything is in pieces. Michael goes back to the Ravenclaw Common Room to see whether it is habitable, and the true nature of the eagle's head knocker is revealed.
Series: Michael Corner and The Parallel Sequence of Stories [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1578898





	Michael Corner and The Really Helpful Bird's Head

# Michael Corner and The Really Helpful Bird’s Head

‘Ye gods! What a mess,’ said Boot as we made our way down to the Great Hall. The corridors were strewn with rubble and most of the portraits were lying smashed against the walls. Their occupants were huddling like refugees in the few intact frames. ‘It’ll take more than a bunch of elves to put this lot right.’

‘If there are any left alive,’ said Tony Goldstein, who was limping with difficulty as both his feet had been hurt.

‘I’m sure that most of them survived,’ I said. ‘They knew how to look after themselves.’ I didn’t want to admit it but the sight of the elves, boiling up out of their kitchen, armed to the teeth, was the most terrifying thing I had seen on a completely terrifying night. Poppy Pom-pom had sealed the wound on my arm, and it still ached like hell, but the memory of all those knives and cleavers at knee height still made me twitch

‘They were a fearsome sight,’ said Boot. ‘I’ll never look at our Benjy in the same way again.’

‘Would he have joined in?’ said Tony.

‘Sure he would,’ said Boot. ‘He’s a happy chappy; they generally are, but I reckon Granger had a point with her Liberation Front. If they all rose up together we’d be in dead trouble.’

‘How do you feel about going home?’ I asked him. He had a bandage over his eye, which he had told us, quite casually, that he was likely to lose.

‘I sent them a message by Sprout,’ he said. Sprout was his Patronus, a spaniel. ‘I said I’d been hurt so it won’t be a shock.’

‘Are you going to have an eyepatch?’ asked Tony. ‘Like a pirate?’

‘I’d thought of going with a RovingEye,’ he said. ‘Like that nutter Moody. Only I’d get one that actually fitted.’

‘Now there was a man who raised paranoia to an art form,’ I said, remembering some of his lessons. ‘Constant Vigilance! I’ll never forget that. What happened to him? I didn’t see him tonight.’

‘Ginny said he’d been killed last year, just before they took over,’ said Tony. ‘They never found the body.’

The great Hall was even noisier and chaotic than ever, with rubble piled in corners, and people all over the place. The tables were already arranged, so the elves had been busy, and we gravitated by habit towards Ravenclaw, but it was rammed. In fact the only table with any space was Slytherin, and that was because so many Slytherins had been pushed out before the battle. The only Slytherin I saw was Malfoys, huddling in a corner with his parents. The other reason why the Slytherin table had space was because it was occupied by McGonagall, the Slug and the Proflet who were heads down at one end, listening to Hagrid who was sitting at the end of the table. The Proflet saw us and waved us over.

‘Come and join us, boys,’ he said. ‘Grab a pew. Rubeus was just telling us what happened in The Forest.’

‘So he walked into the Spiders’ Den?’ McGonagall prompted Hagrid as we sat down.

‘Nah. ’E didn’t walk. ‘E jus’ appeared,’ said Hagrid, screwing his great face up in memory. ‘They said, ‘‘e’s not coming’ and then, then there he was.’

‘Invisibility cloak,’ said McGonagall. ‘He has a perfect invisibility cloak. He had it with him this evening because he did the same with me. Just appeared. Albus had it at one time and he showed it to me. Perfect.’

‘He had a cloak, did he?’ said The Proflet. ‘Good heavens! Then that explains a great many things. And probably more when I think about it.’

‘So he was there,’ prompted The Slug. ‘Did he fight?’

‘Didn’t do a thing,’ said Hagrid. ‘Jus’ stood there, starin’ at You-know-who, and You-know-who stared back. Then he … Then he …’ Hagrid couldn’t go on.

‘But he didn’t die,’ said The Proflet

‘’E died alrigh’ said Hagrid. ‘But so did You-know-who. Least they thought he had. They were sure he had, but then ‘e got up again. Sissy Black, there,’ he nodded towards the Malfoys, who all cringed at being noticed. ‘She said ‘Arry was dead and there were no reason for ‘er to lie.’

‘I have heard mention of Horcruxes,’ said McGonagall carefully. ‘Could the fact that both of them died, and then hadn’t died be something connected with that?’

‘What’s a Horcrux, ma’am?’ asked Boot.

‘Very dark magic,’ said The Proflet. ‘We don’t teach it, do we Horace?’

‘No! No! Absolutely not,’ said The Slug, looking very uncomfortable. ‘Don’t know anything about them.’ Which was obviously a lie. I made a mental note to ask him about them later.

‘Anchors you to life,’ said McGonagall, who couldn’t resist teaching. ‘But the cost is tremendous.’

‘Usually to other people,’ said The Proflet.

‘So Harry walked into the clearing, knowing he was going to be killed?’ said The Slug, clearly desperate to change the subject. ‘He just allowed himself to be killed? I couldn’t have done that.’

The Proflet grinned wickedly and clearly had a sharp answer, but McGonagall frowned at him.

‘He obviously had some reason,’ she said. ‘Doubtless some instruction from Dumbledore, and he will tell us in his own time.’

At that moment several large plates of ham sandwiches materialised on the table with a jug of water and some tumblers. When everyone had stuffed themselves, even McGonagall, The Proflet suddenly remembered we were there.

‘Got a job for you,’ he piped. ‘I sent out the prefects to shepherd the evacuees but I need you to gather up the remaining Claws and see if you can get the Common Room fit for habitation.’

‘Was it trashed?’ said Boot.

‘I’m not sure,’ said The Proflet. ‘Gryffindor’s was.’

‘It was targeted,’ said McGonagall. ‘So was Hufflepuff’s so we can assume that Ravenclaw’s was as well. Besides, Carrow was in there.’

‘Slytherin’s was okay,’ put in The Slug.

‘Yes, well it would be,’ said McGonagall and he subsided.

‘Do you know how many Claws are still here?’ I said, looking at the way everyone was mixed up as if houses didn’t exist. So one of Voldemort’s objectives had come true after all.

‘About a dozen,’ said The Proflet. ‘They don’t have to sleep in the Common Room. Some may want to go straight home for a day or two, but we need to accommodate them if they want to stay.’

‘And if you happen to see Miss Weasley in your travels, could you send her over here,’ said McGonagall. ‘Mr Longbottom seems to have his hands full, but if you could keep an eye out for Mr Thomas or Mr Finnegan and send one of them over as well I’d appreciate it.’

‘I can see Dean from here,’ I said. ‘I’ll go and nobble him.’ Ginny was likely to be in the same vicinity as Neville so I looked for her as well.

Tony and Boot set out to round up Ravenclaws and I made my way back to the Common Room, via Dean, who was hyped to the eyeballs. In fairness, it could have been the residue of a Cheering Charm because they were a speciality of one S. Finnegan.

The elves had been busy, even in the time we had been in the Hall. The corridors nearest to the Hall were almost clear but they became more and more trashed, and dark, as I walked along them. There was no-one around. Even without the destruction they would have been spooky. They were silent except for the sound of my footsteps.

‘Help me,’ whispered a voice, and I jerked around, but it was a portrait of a small boy in a field of poppies. ‘I can’t find my daddy.’

‘He’ll be back soon,’ I said as soon as I had my heart under control. ‘He’ll be along soon.’

I walked on down the corridors that had been so familiar but were now jumbled and strange with weird shadows.

The Common Room door was closed. Muriel stared out at nothing.

The door stayed closed. Normally she would open for me without a question. I hadn’t been to the Common Room since I had to decamp to the Room of Requirements, so maybe she had forgotten me.

‘Muriel?’ I said

Nothing happened. The bronze eyes stared into space.

‘Muriel? Ask me a question.’

‘Did you know there’s a werewolf behind you?’ she said.

I whipped around. A shadow just down the corridor rose to its feet.

‘Can you flame it?’ I hissed.

‘It has a student,’ said Muriel. ‘And my name is not Muriel.’

There was another shadowy lump at the werewolf’s feet. It stirred. ‘Mike?’ it whispered.

Mandy.

‘Got a friend of yours,’ snarled the werewolf. ‘Nice tasty girl. Put you wand down if you want her to live.’

‘What do you think?’ I asked Muriel.

‘Put your wand down and keep clear of the door,’ said Muriel calmly.

I stepped to one side and put the wand on the ground, trying to remember a jinx that Harry had taught us which didn’t need a wand. ‘Good for tight spots,’ he had said. Well, this was tight.

There was a click, and a movement of the door, which was suddenly wrenched open. A huge black ball of fizzing fury shot out of the doorway and smashed into the werewolf.

It sounded as though there was a series of small explosions and I picked up my wand quickly to try to shield Mandy. The explosions died down and the ball deflated, resolving into Carrow standing, staring round, breathing heavily.

‘You! You nasty little bludger,’ he said, catching sight of me. ‘You gone and made me kill Greyback, you pinking little slyback. _Crucio_!’

Just as well I already had a shield up. The spell bounced off and smacked into a wall tile. He tried to circle round me and I had to back away from the door to keep the shield covering Mandy.

‘ _Crucio! Crucio!_ ’ he shouted and I could feel my shield starting to weaken and shrink as the spells drained me. Mandy was exposed, so I moved again.

‘Heh. Starting to feel the strain, are you,’ he said. ‘I can keep goin’. How long can you last?’

Then a little voice said, ‘Stupefy!’ Mandy had reached around the shield and hit him with a stunner, but it was too weak. Only strong enough to distract him. I dropped the shield and hit him with a force blast that lifted him right off his feet and slammed him into the door. Right on to Muriel.

‘You little …’ he whispered and slid in a crumpled heap on to the ground. I investigated him carefully, shield still up, just in case.

‘He is dead,’ said Muriel, or not-Muriel.

And he was. There was a huge hole in the back of his head. A Muriel shaped hole.

I stood up, getting my breath under control and Mandy groaned, jerking me back to reality.

‘Did he bite you?’ I said, cradling her shoulders.

‘On the leg,’ she said. ‘It’s not too bad.’

I wasn’t so sure about that. The werewolf had to have been completely transformed for the bite she showed me.

‘Can you stand?’ I said.

‘I suppose I can hop,’ she said, gritting her teeth.

‘Let’s get you up to Pompom,’ I said bracingly. She was too short for me to get her arm over my shoulder without dislocating it so we bound our arms around each other’s chests and made slow progress down the corridor.

Fortunately, when we reached the end, the others arrived led by Boot and shepherded by Tony. Luna took charge of Mandy and whisked her up to Pompom with no fuss at all. The great thing about Luna was that her normal was so weird that, when things got weird she appeared normal. She was totally unfazed by anything.

‘What’s the state of the Common Room,’ muttered Terry.

‘Dunno,’ I said. ‘I haven’t got that far. We’ve had some action here, as you can see.’

‘How many bodies?’

‘Two. Carrow’s one’, I said. ‘The other is a werewolf called Greyback, I think.’

‘Greyback!?’ He swore. He paused and peered down the corridor. ‘You sure he’s dead?’

‘He looked pretty dead,’ I said. ‘I didn’t kill him. Carrow did that, but I didn’t check.’

‘And you killed Carrow?’ said Boot, looking at me strangely.

‘Actually, Muriel did it,’ I said. ‘I helped. But she doesn’t like being called Muriel.’

‘Okayyy,’ he said, drawing it out. He turned back to the rest of the Claws who were in a little huddle, winding each other up. ‘Can you wait here a moment?’ he said loudly. ‘We just need to check the coast is clear.’

We heard muttering behind us as we walked back to the Common Room. Carrow was lying where I had left him but the only sign of Greyback was a pool of blood on the floor.

I felt stupid. ‘I should have checked,’ I muttered.

‘Mandy was more important,’ said Boot.

‘You didn’t answer my question,’ said not-Muriel.

‘Which one?’ I said.

‘Did you know there was a werewolf behind you?’

We turned, and there it was. It was a bit hunched, but fully transformed.

‘When I’ve dealt with you I can smell girls down the corridor,’ it said, the words sounding deformed coming from a wolf’s mouth. ‘Tasty.’ It licked its lips. ‘Tender.’

‘AK after count of three,’ I whispered. ‘One, two, three.’

‘ _Avera Kedavra_!’ we shouted together and the green light of the spell flashed across the corridor and caught him just as he was leaping for us. It caught the body and flung it against the wall with a heavy thud.

‘I’ll take that as a ‘Yes’,’ said not-Muriel and the door to the Common Room opened.

‘Thank you,’ I said breathlessly. ‘I’ve never used AK before.’

‘A bad spell in good times, but a good one in bad times,’ observed not-Muriel.

‘What is your name?’ I said as Boot started poking around the Common Room to check for damage.

‘My name, I suppose, is Rowena,’ said the eagle’s head. ‘I am a Horcrux.’

I was definitely going to have to find out about Horcruxes.

‘She is my mother’s Horcrux,’ said a soft, hollow voice that made my hairs stand up. I was more or less used to The Grey Lady, but she still gave me the creeps when she emerged from walls. I had never heard her speak before. ‘She loved Hogwarts. She cast it on herself when she was dying to anchor herself to Hogwarts for ever. But instead it anchors me.’


End file.
